White Christmas in the Ozarks

Once in a blue moon we get a white Christmas. A winter storm dumped snow on our house in Lubbock and all the way to Arkansas, which is where we spent Christmas.

Byron got his first taste of sledding on the West Farm on Christmas day. The snow was a very powdery, dry snow, and the windchill on Christmas day was in the teens. But, we went sledding anyway.

Riley, Megan and Karen joined us outdoors in the Christmas day winter wonderland, despite the miserable wind.

When I was in high school, we used to get big snows all the time. I built a sled (aka, the Ultimate Toboggan) out of our neighbor's old above-ground swimming pool and a plastic chicken crate. Add a rope and a four-wheeler and you've got one awesome sledding experience.


However, when the snow is powdery and the wind is blowing, riding the Ultimate Toboggan can result in the sledder eating a lot of snow and freezing their face off.

Karen kept to the traditional run-and-jump sledding method...


...while Byron used the Clark Griswold method.


After about an hour, and mild cases of facial frostbite, we called it a day and retreated inside for some wassail.

Christmas Duds

This will be the first Christmas that Byron and I can claim to be full-fledged, married adults. Before this year, we got away with never buying Christmas trees, ornaments, or our own stockings in our single lives.

So, this year it was time to bring out the Christmas duds. Thanks to a couple leftover Pottery Barn gift cards from the wedding, and a nice holiday sale at Hobby Lobby, our home took on a cheerful holiday look for our first official Christmas as the Kennedys.

We also went out on a limb and sprang for the LED lights for the house this year.

I opted out for a tree skirt, because I was amazed at how pricey they are. I rarely wear skirts, so why would I want to spend $80-$100 on one for the tree?

More Christmas Commercials from the 80s

As I mentioned in the last post, Christmas commercials from the 80s hold a special place in my heart. I was a kid in the 80s and that's when the most magical of my holiday memories were made.

I know most of you also saw these commercials during the 80s.

Folgers Coffee




Nabisco Oreo Christmas Commercial - "O, o, o, whose that man with the Oreo cookie..."




7 Up Christmas Commercial One of my favorites!




M&M's Christmas Commercial - "I've got that M&M feelin'..."




And finally...


McDonald's Star Wish Commercial - Makes me want a plain cheeseburger really bad.

That Spirit of Christmas

When I think of Christmas time, I think of a VHS tape my parents recorded when Natalie and I were five years old. It started out with the old "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" (1964), followed by "A Garfield Christmas" and concluded with "Claymation Christmas" - all were broadcast on CBS, of course.



Not only were these the best three animated Christmas specials on TV at the time (or perhaps ever), but the VHS also included the commercials from 1987, which are almost as fun to watch as the shows, i.e., Sony's commercial - I'd like a bike, I'd like a pony, but what I'd love is My First Sony!"





Other great commercials included the classic 7up Santa beard countdown-to-Christmas calendar, Oreos, and ads for the limited time offer stuffed reindeer that came in McDonald's Happy Meals.


It has become a Christmas tradition to watch this VHS tape every year. In fact, my mom keeps it in the safe at home. It's been 22 years since I first watched these shows, and it still never feels like Christmas each year until I watch them again. It brings back the magic you feel as a kid during the holidays.



In case you've never seen any of these great shows, I suggest you check them out. Luckily, they're all over YouTube.



"Carol of the Bells" - a segment from Claymation Christmas.
Click here if the embedded video doesn't show up.






A segment from Garfield Christmas. The grandma is my favorite character.






There should be three videos that appear in this blog. If those of you who receive this via email don't see the videos, click the links provided.

Extreme Weather

I've lived in three states (AR, TX, KS) and each state always claims the phrase, "If you don't like the weather in (insert state here), just wait 15 minutes."

Granted, that has proven to be true in those three states, but I've never seen it more prevalent, more extreme and more accurate than in West Texas.


This morning I awoke at 6:00am to a phone call telling me a meeting I was going to attend at 7:30am this morning had been canceled due to ice and slick roads. Yesterday it flurried lightly for a few hours and never got above 25 degrees. In the afternoon, it began to mist.

However, I never heard a weather report suggesting there might be ice the following morning. Texas Tech remained closed until 10am, and so did all of the area schools and the Lubbock County Court House. I didn't make it to work until 9:30am, and even then the roads were still very slick.

However, while out to lunch I noticed a black, fast moving cloud headed straight south. Within minutes, the cloud overtook Lubbock and suddenly it was a monsoon outside. Heavy rain fell for an hour. Then suddenly the sun came out. The temperature was now at 50 degrees. It didn't even feel like the same day.

A sleet mix fell in south Lubbock, while at the same time in Denver City & Plains (not far to the south and west of Lubbock, near New Mexico) were both about to blow off the map with winds steady at over 60 mph.

The sunny sky over north Lubbock (where I work) soon gave way to the brown tint as the temperature rose that is a familiar sight during the West Texas springtime.


Winds are currently peaking out in the 60mph range and tumbleweeds are on the move.

It went from this...


To this in a matter of hours.

LED Lights and Nephews

We branched out this Christmas season and ditched the old energy-sucking lights for the new, fancy LED lights. Actually, we went out and bought eight strands of the old C-9 lights from Wal-Mart, only to discover that you can't plug in more than two strands at a time.

Ridiculous.


You can plug in 110 strands of LED lights together. I'll have to report later on this subject after we receive our first electricity bill after putting them up.

Meanwhile, we've been graced with the presence of a visiting nephew this week. I've thoroughly enjoyed being an aunt. I've even brainwashed one of them into being a Razorback fan...I'm not sure how long that will last, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.


This guy is probably still too young to influence, but he's been a good pirate for Mike Leach's Red Raiders so far.


We already knew we were going to have another new nephew in March from Byron's side of the family, but I recently learned that we'll have one more from my side of the family in July. Can twins have twins? I guess we'll find out!

In the spirit of Christmas

It's that time of year again, and I've already had my first viewing of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation for the year. There will be more, trust me.

So, in the spirit of the Christmas season, I'd like to post one of my favorite scenes from the movie. We got a little snow out here in West Texas this week, but nothing to sled on...and there aren't any hills, so that's a problem.




If you have trouble viewing this, click here.

Amarillo

I am in Amarillo all week for the third year in a row. This is the week of the Amarillo Farm & Ranch Show, the Texas Corn Producers Board meeting, Texas Peanut Producers Board meeting, and the Texas Commodity Symposium that the Texas corn, peanuts, wheat, sorghum and cotton organizations host each year.

It never fails that each year we come up here for this crazy week of events - it gets extremely cold or snows. A couple of years ago on my way to Amarillo from Thanksgiving in Arkansas, I got stuck in a blizzard and slid of the road. I had a full size mattress in my Tahoe (which fits perfectly) and nearly had to spend the night on the side of the road as the snow and wind howled outside. Last year a cold front hit right as the farm show started and I nearly froze just walking in from the parking lot.

It snowed Sunday night as we drove up here from Lubbock, and there's a winter storm brewing to the west that may dump even more snow.

After a few trips through the northern Texas Panhandle over the past couple of years, I have concluded that this is where wind and weather begins. It's always colder, hotter, windier and harsher than anywhere else.

Texas Peanuts Makes Peanut Butter Donation

I had an awesome opportunity fall in my lap a few weeks ago. I got a call from an investigative reporter from San Antonio's WOAI NBC affiliate who was looking to do something special. The San Antonio Food Bank, like most food banks, was seriously low on their most demanded item - peanut butter.

WOAI's show Trouble Shooters was looking to partner up with the Texas Peanut Producers Board, HEB grocery stores and Time-Warner to donate two pallets of peanut butter to the San Antonio Food Bank. (Two pallets = 6,000 pounds of peanut butter!)

So, we shipped the mascot outfit for Tex P. Nut down to San Antonio and I jumped on a plane (my 12th in seven days) and showed up to the San Antonio Food Bank just before we made the surprise to the food bank's director, Eric Cooper. (We hired the station's intern to wear the Tex P. Nut suit.)

Not only was this a great promotional opportunity for the peanut board, but it was also a great way to help out the needy of San Antonio. The episode aired last night on WOAI at 10, and can be found on the station's web site.

Watch the episode of Trouble Shooters here!


Be sure to donate a few jars of peanut butter to your local food bank this holiday season.

Tunes Worth Listening To

I'm certainly not a dignified music critic, but I do like good tunes.

My hubby has quite an ear for new and old, and likely unheard music, and he's really broadened my listening range.

Therefore, I thought I'd share a few artists and songs you should check out on iTunes. If you already listen to these people, good for you.

1. James McMurtry - This guy is totally cool. Not only is he the son of the acclaimed author, Larry McMurtry (Lonesome Dove), but he's also one interesting dude. He sings it like it is, and is a great story teller. A lot of his songs are covered by other artists now, but he's an original.

Check out: Lobo Town, Sixty Acres, Levelland, Out Here in the Middle, Ruby and Carlos and Choctaw Bingo.

2. Ryan Bingham - Here's a guy with quite a story. He used to ride bulls for Tarelton State University in Stephenville, Texas, lived out of a van for a while, and now packs 'em in the dancehalls with his raspy voice.

Check out: Dylan's Hard Rain, Day is Done, Sunrise, Country Roads and Tell My Mother I Miss Her So.

3.Slaid Cleaves - I don't really know much about this guy, other than I like his sound. Some terrible mainstream country artist just covered his song "Broke Down" and butchered it. Listen to Slaid's version.

Check out: Broke Down and Horseshoe Lounge

4. The Wood Brothers - These guys have some crazy lyrics, but a great sound.

Check out: Loaded and Twisted.

5. Hogg Maulies - I have to promote these guys. Not only are they friends, but they're a big reason I met Byron. Oh, and they're a great band. I spent a good amount of time listening to them and following them around Texas while at graduate school. (I'm still trying to get Byron to play harmonica with them like he used to back in the day). I know they've got some new songs they've yet to record, so keep an eye out for those one of these days. For now, buy these songs on iTunes. And, for all you folks in PG, they have a new t-shirt I think you'd enjoy.

Check out: On Your Own Tonight, Fall Back, Goodnight, Towerbells, Greenback Dollar and Truth Be Known.

6. Steve Earle - You've heard this guy over and over. Listen to Feel Alright and Telephone Road.

7. The Old 97s - These guys are fun. Listen to Barrier Reef

Fall Foliage in the Ozarks

This past weekend we spent some time in the Arkansas Ozark Mountains and were able to see the fall foliage in its prime.

Our good friend, Carolyn Arnold, so graciously shared her lake home with us in Diamond City, Ark., on Bull Shoals Lake. The combination of the foliage with the autumn sky made for one amazing sunrise.

Further west in my hometown of Prairie Grove, Ark., the leaves where painting their own picture.

I always miss fall in the Ozarks. Out here in West Texas, only the elm trees actually change color, but they only change yellow. There aren't too many maple trees out here in the flatlands.